LANAO DEL SUR, Philippines — The police recovered Thursday the bullet-riddled cadavers of three men reportedly kidnapped three days before by Islamic State-inspired militants.
Bobong Crisostomo, 43, Boyet Sarsava, 42 and the 29-year-old Greg Baguio were found dead at the border of Piagapo and Balindong towns in Lanao del Sur.
Investigators said they are all from Initiao municipality in nearby Misamis Oriental in Region 10.
Chief Superintendent Graciano Mijares of the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said Friday the Lanao del Sur provincial police is now investigating on how the victims ended up dead in a hinterland separating Barangays Gacap in Piagapo and Dado in Balindong.
Local officials said talks have earlier spread around purporting that militants snatched them from somewhere and executed them in the province to create the impression that the Maute terror group is still capable of sowing terror anywhere in Lanao del Sur.
Mijares said the chief of the Marawi City police, Superintendent Ebra Moxsir, is now helping investigate on the killings.
He said their efforts to establish where the victims were snatched from and who were responsible for their deaths are being coordinated with the Misamis Oriental provincial police.
Mijares said the remains of the three men are now in the custody of a private mortuary in Iligan City.